Improvement in stills for petroleum



' To all whom it 11mg concern.-

oHARLEsLooKHART AND JOHN GRACIE, oF Pir'rsBURG, .'PlannerLvaNL/a.i

UNITED: STATES;

PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN srlLLs Foa PETROLEUM, etc..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,632, dated November 17', i863.

Be it known that we, CHARLEsLooKHART and JOHN GRACIE, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny'and State ot Pennsylvania, have invented certain new-and useful Improvements in Stills for Distilling Petroleum or Goal Oil; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact ,description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompany- 1ngdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- 4 Figure 1 is a side sectional view of a still constructed according to our invention; Fig.

2, a plan ortop view of the same, the stuffingbox being bisected horizontally, as indicated by the line y y, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a .detachedinverted plan of Scrapers pertaining to the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention, relates, first, to a means for .'taking off vapor from the still at the same height from the surface of the oil and at different heights during the process of distillation;

second, to a'means for keeping the bottom of the still-clean or free from incrustation,

A represent-s the still, and B lthe top thereof, in which a pipe, C, of curved or goose-neck form', is fitted and permanently secured; and D is a straight horizontal pipe, the inner end of which communicates with C near its lower end, and the outerend of C communicating with D near its center, the two pipes yhaving a com mon outlet. Each pipe, near the inner juncf tion of the two, is provided with 'a valve, E,

by which either pipe may be closed and the.

vapor allowed to escape. to the condenser through either of them, as may be desired. This will be fully understood by referring to Fig. l. The advantage of this arrangement is as follows: The pipe C is used at the commecementof the run7 or distilling process, as the still can be run fast without any ofthe fluid passing over mechanically, as all unvaporized oil will fall back into the still, while the dry vapor will pass through C into the condensers, making white oil. When however, the oil gets low in the still,the vapor of course must ascend higher, the height increasing in proportion to the gradual descent of the oil in the still, which oil and vapor gradually increases in' density as the distilling process progresses, and a large. portion lof this v heavy vapor, if the pipe() is used,would co ndense within it, and ,there wouldbe a contin- Aual falling back of oil, owing to repeated condensation and redistillation and a great loss of permanent gas. The correct principle, therefore, is to bring the discharge or vaporv'conductinglpipe nearer the surface of the oil as the latter gets heavy lor .increases in' density', and this we effect by using the pipe D and closing G, so that there wig at all times be a free passage for the vapor.

The bottom a of the still is of east-iron, in one piece. The other portion, b, (the siding,) is of wrought-iron, as that is not exposed toa great degree of heat. The advantage of this construction is as follows: The ordinary stills arel made with sheet-iron bottoms, a number of sheets being riveted together, and these bottoms, when coated withresiduum, are'nccessarily subjected to a very great heat, and the sheets warp, the seams open, and leakage endesired, it being as easy to cast it of one form as another, and in one piece, without any seams or joints, whereas the ordinary sheet-metal bottoms cannot be constructed of sheet or Wrought metal 'without seams or joints.

F represents a shaft which is placed vertically in the still and passes up through astuffing-box, G, at the center ofthe top B thereof. On the lower end of thisshaft F there is fitted a plate, H, to two opposite edges of which plates I I are attached by hinges yorjointsc c. These plates I are curved to correspond to the curvature of the bottom a, of the still, and said plates have Scrapers d attached to their under surface, which rest on the bottom a, as shown in Fig. l. The lower end of the shaft Fis tted in a step, e, lat the center of the bottom a of the still, and the upper end of said shaftv above the top B of the still has a pulley, f, or l a gear-wheel upon it, by which the shaft is rotated. -By rotating this shaft the Scrapers du distillation. This settles to the bottom, burning -to a hard crust. of from one to six inches in thickness, and if a strong heat is kept up the iron itself, and it is then impossible to get Vin Fig. 2. By this means thestufng-box will sediment falls as it is scraped from the bottom for a short time the crustv becomes as hard as be protected from the great heat of the still.i To the center `of the bottom a of the still there is attached a'. receiver, H', into which the (L 0f the still. As the sediment or heavy matter falls into the receiver it of course displaces the oil therein, the receiver being filled with oil when the still is lfilled, as there is no cut# oibetwcen them.

Having thus described our invention, what` we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isi- 1. The combination, withthe goose-neck C,

of the horizontal or lower pipe,D, and valves E E, in the mannerherein shown and described.l

2. The combination of the curved hinged plates I and attached Scrapers d with theshaft F and bottom a, in the manner hereinsho'wn anddepscribed.4

.v CHARLES LOCKHART;

JOHNl GRACIE.,

Witnesses:

.JOHN M AcKIN, WM. FREW. 

